Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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VOL LIV O. 7. NEBE~Y S. .~'FRIDAY' AUGUST 30. 1907. TWIOX A WEfl. $1.5 ER HAVOG RAISED BY THE BOLL WEEVIL E. D. SMITH REPORTS UPON CONDITIONS IN WEST. Advises Farmers to Hold-Says 15 C,ents is Least Farmers in South west Will Consider. To the Editor of The State: On August 19th I left South Car olina for a tour of the western cotton states. There has been and is con siderable speculation as to the proba ble yield of this crop. My opportunity for observation and information as to Mississippi was limited. I will visit that state during the early part of September. The Louisiana crop is certainly ex tremely short. From Vieksburg im mediately on the Mississippi river for several miles in the interior the crop is pratically a complete failure. From the Ouehiata river to the Red river the crop will average 50 per cent. of a normal yield. From Shreveport to Alexandria the boll weevil has des troyed the crop up and down the Red River valley-the most fertile region in Louisiana. There are tens of thou sands of acres that are abandoned; not a seed planted, and other thous ands'planted and abandoned and the balance making very little. I wish those who are disposed to think the weevil does little harm could see the work of destruetion he has caused in Louisiana. In Texas the weevil and drought have put beyond possibility anything like an average yield. - The people of Louisiana and Texas won't talk f anything less than 15 ,41 a-s per pound for-this eip- Jude ing -by the. size of the audiences and the charaeter and oecupations of the men composing them, I think it safe to predict that there will be a terrific fight for 15 eents if the buyers seem disposed seriously to oypose it. The conditions hare are very mueh like those that obtained in the states east of. the Mississippi last year. Last year we had poor crops and these Western States good ones. The pri ees were good-fine indeed for tliese states that made the larger yields and the rekult of their fine crops and big prices was an almost unlimited extension of credit. Now the terrible crop failure puts bankers and mer . hants who extended eredit to the 'planter in the same boat with the planter. For if there is not a big price obtained they stand to lose Their advances; so there is a very un a'nimous sentiment among planters and business men for 15 cents cot ton. Of course it all depends on the wisdom of the owners and their abil ity to exercise their wisdom as to whether the crop will bring this price or not. One of the .worst features of the crop outlook is the poor cora crop. I've been speaking to the farmers here of the Williamxston plan. I be lieve it would succeed here better than in the Eastern States. I leave today for Oklahoma, where I wi.l make a three days' eans ass and on the 28th leave for Columbia so as to be at the county presidents' meet ing on the 30th. I have had a strenuous campaign, speaking three times a day and trav eling day~ and night. There is a grat ifying growt-h in sentiment as to our work and practical demonstration of appreciating it. E. D. Smith. Monroe. La., Aug. 25. 1907. Taking no Chances. The court appointed a young law yer to defend a Georgia darky, but after the prisoner had looked the lawyer over he said: "No. Mister Jedge, I reckon not. De las time I got in de penitentiary I .had a man dat look des lak him to defenid me. so des leave him out de case en gimme ten years!''-Atlanta Constitution. Wh'en king~s kiss it is called oscula tion diplomaticus. And it probably tates jnst als it sounds. muPrpritRB KiLs mARsHAL.] Coben Simma Killed Georgia Marshal Who Was Hunting the Former's Kinsman. Thomasville, Ga., Aug. 28.-Eugene dargell, marshal of Cairo, was shot and killed early this morning by Coh en Simms, a negro, near Moccasin Gap, Fla. Simms went to Tallahas see and surrendered to the officers. Cargell was at the head of a posse that had located Charles Williams, the murderer of Sheriff Tyus of Gra- . dy county, who had found conceal ment in the house of Simms, his unclA. As the posse stormed the house t Simms fired, killing Cargell. Sheriff Hight left here this morning with a posse in two automobiles to continue the pursuit of Williams. Lynching Feared. Tallahassee, Fla., Aug. 28.-Gov. Broward tonight ordered the Blox ham Rifles here to hold themselves in readiness for orders from Sheriff Hopkins. It is feared that an. at tempt will be made to lynch Cohen Simms, the negro who surrendered here today after killing Marshal Car gell of Cairo, Ga. A mob is reported tonight to be arching on Tallahassee to get the negro. The sheriff is expected back from the scene at any moment. The Unruly Office Boy. To evolve a scheme for the manage ment of the office boy would be no easy matter. It's a safe proposition, however, never to give more than two days' notice of discharge, writes Montague Glass in Success Magazine. In that short period be may contrive to d6"nore'damage 'to y - t niture and injury to your credit and good will 'than can be repaired in a year. An attorney in moderate prae tice, of the writer's acquaintance, in formed his boy that he would dis pense- with his services at the end of the week, and went to lunch, rather proud of his own temerity. He was a married man. During his absence the boy discovered that electric light bulbs screwed in and out of their ~sockets, with corollary that when a bulb so removed fell to the floor it exploded in a most fascinating man ner. Moreover, the impact of such a bulb against the wall of the office build ing opposite produced an e;p!osion twice as intense as a mere dropping on the flo>or. A succession of them sounded like a pistol fight of frontier days. The adjoining streets grew clogged and traffic was suspended, while the crowd waited, for the bodies 'of the victims to be carried out.' I nstead the office, boy appeared -unruffled and debonair, although none too gently propelled by the attorney in moderate practice, a trifle breathless and redi in the face. Many boys, however, are more lit eral than Hamlet's grav3digger: The writer once entered an office occupied< only by a small youngster, whose hair.l rose mistily above his broad collar 3 like a cloud on Fujiyama. "Ts Mr. Smith in?'' he was asked. "No, sir; he is not, sir,'' he re plied in a scared treble. "Do you expect him in soon?'' "No. sir; I do not, sir,'' was the answer. We both remained silent. " To tell you the truth, mister,'' he proffered. in a sudden burst of confi dence. "you have made a mistake. His office is next door." The "Dandy Horse." The father of the bicycle tribe, the "dandy horse,'' was invented in 1818 by Baron von Draise of Paris. It con sisted of two wheels about thirty inches in diameter running one in the wake of the other and connected by ef~h f' wood. upon which, half way from each end, was a saddle or erh. It was propelled by kiking the grouad with the righti andi left foot alternately. Tt was2 from such a crude affair that thd ' nmr bicy war ilowly evolved.i IISTORICAL SKETCH CO. G., 13 e S. C. V. ITH A ROLL OF THE OFFI CERS AND M RERS. knd Address By Dr. D. M. Orosson At Annual Reunion at Prosperity. Written by J. F. P. Crosson. The political campaign of 1860 was t period of extraordinary excitement. ['he election took place on the 6th of iovember. And when that night the vires flashed all over the Union that he Republican ticket had triumphed aid that Abraham Lincoln was presi ent. the feeling was intensified sev rely. This election was the signal .or action by the Secessionists. A onvention was called and South Car >ina passed the Ordinance of Seces don on the 20th day >f December, [860, formally dissolving her connee ion with the Union by a unanimous rote. And the war seemed to be gath ring its strength. The position taken by President 3~1hanan that neither he nor Con :ess had any right to coerce a state 1to submission was but a little oil on Le troub!ed surface. During the win er Union men desired, and, perhaps. riod to ecm.promise. as parties both rth and South loved the Union so learly that only sacrifices of streams >f blood could satisfy their affections, a see its dissolution, but these efforts -a.me to naught. When Lincoln was inaugurated. es rted by a military procession l,n:.:h the Nation's Capitol,. and -i :Nve!ry turn passed in its march' t White House. old Gn. Win tt exCI ' '.'Thank GodI -ot e.tF .Aioni es was an omen or blood-shed estiTig its shadow be .re it. Lincoln's inaugural address declAr ng that no state could lawfully with ,raw from the Union (though, dis vowing his intention to interfere with slavery in the south), proclaim d it would be his duty to hold, -oe upy and.possess the places and pro )erty belonging to the federal gov rnment in the south, that, is, the ~orts, arsenals, etc., which had been eized by the Secessionists, was a ~hallenge to war. The excitement ran very high an ~oluteer companies were formed and Irilled and then sent to available >ints. And when after a bloodless sombardment 6f thirty-four hours Port Sumter surrendered, it showed hat the war had fairly begun and was uopn us, in all its fury. At the orth the stars an stripes were way .ng as from the govenrment offices, ~orts and' a forest of mast-heads on the >eean. The eall for-thousands of vol tteers was filled '~nd hastened to heir destination. A mob in Balti nore attacked one of these compan es, and this was the first blood shed n the war. At the south the people vere fully as enthusiastic. The stars und the bars were fung to t;he breeze nl every hand, cheered and intensified y the presenting of flags by fair iands and hurrahs for home, fire-side Lnd native -land. This excitement ran igh till the flames even over-ran hese stone hills and showed that all ;he horrors of a civil war were upon is, and that it was to be no child's >lay. After several companies had been ~ormed and had left the county there w'as still a call for more volunteers. ?apt. Lester said, ''Boys. we will ~orm a company and I will go with, iou.'' Soon eo. ''G'' was formed, for >ld men told their sons Lester. would only lead them where honor Pnd duty called.' They honored his nteeity and bravery then as the w'orld does today, and have never had rean to change, for Col. Lester is: mly another name for chivalry, ,|ar ing, bravery and honor. His heart nev r failed him at duty's call. The company was soon formed and fficered and left Prosperity on the Mth of August, 1861, for the camp of' nstruction at -Lightwoodknot Springs 1ear Columbia, and was there placed) n the 13th Regiment. S. C. V.. under hbae -Col. Edwards of Spartan burg, S. C. After a short time the left the camp of instruction and wen to the sea-coast, doing some picke aid guard duty. Several incident happened here that would be delighi fal to rehearse. They left the coast for the activ 4i;it of the war in Virginia about th last week in April, 1862, and afte a short stay in Richmond went on t a station near Fredericksburg, wher we arrived about the 4th day of Ma] when there was still frost on tb land-and the memorable ineidet happened of the guard (T. D. K mldng the Colonels of two regiment wade into the water to give him th countersign. Also, Lieut. Fellers an squad were takgn prisoners on the oul r:.' (Very sick, that saved mysel from capture by letting F. Moss g in my place.) But a short time wa allowed us to remain here before w took up the line of march back t< wards Richmond. After several har marehings, we camped on the Chiel ahominy not far fromn Meehanic. ville, and were held in readiness fc the seven days .fighting around tb 4apitol of the Confederacy. Thoug in hearing distance, we did not get i tbe battle of Fair Oaks on the la day of May, nor in that of Gaine. Mils on the 27th of June, but were i the engagement at Cold Harbor o the evening of the same day where th Union Corps were diven from thei positions with heavy loss. This battle cut off Gon. M lellan supplies on the York River. forcia him to seek a new base on the Jam, River. causing him to fight the bar tle of Savage Station on the 29th c Jine, Glendale on June 30th, an I Ivern Hill July 1st, which we, a I a hard march, reached just af.* and "gave a yell to let thei w that South.-Caxe& wa&-in but in_ the morning the enemy wei all gone toward Herrison's Landir on the James.river., Soon after the seven days' fig and MeIGlelan's. retreat down tI James river, the Southern ari turned towards the .Potoma a1 perhaps Washington. Jackson lea4 ing the head of the army attacke Gen. Banks at Cedar Mountain c August 9th, 1862, and -outed hir Old comrades will remember by ti stampede at night.. Gen. Lee was pressing heavily upc Pope's army trying to reach Rie mond from this side causing himi retreat noxrthward from 'every pos tion. And soon followed the force maches of Stonewall Jaekson, whi< resulted in one of the most bloot battles of this campaign, Secor Manassas, near the old battle grout of Bull Run, on the 29th and 30th< -August, 1862, in which our compax suffered severly. Indeed, Gen. Pope army was defeated and reeled ba< towards the Potomac and Washin; ton, but we kept up the line of marc to Ox Hill, or, as the aYnkees calli "Chantelly,'' where we had a sho but bloody fight two days after ti fight at 'Second Manassas. The Yai kee Generals Kearney and Stever were killed there. And no doubt oi men fired into us in the disorder< the fray. I do not remember any < our number .killed here, hat son were badly wounded. From this poil our army pustied on to Frederie City, Md., across the river Potoma Then moved westward and erosse back again into Virginia. Then doiw the Shenandoah river a few miles' Harper's Ferry , the garrison I whih. - 12.000 strong, with i vast supplies were surrendered on ti morning of the 15th of Septembe 162. All of you that were there r< memcfr the heavy cannfonade ove us and the shouts as Gen. A. P. .Hi went out to receive the white flh sent to him for terms of capitulatio: On the evening of 16th of Septet er, we crossed the Potomae again Shepherd's Town and were in ti battle of Sharpsburg and held the flank whilst the great batle of Al tietami was fought on our left 17th< September, when Gen. Lee's army r crossed the Potomac on the next da Our part of the army covered the r treat up the Shenandoah valley. E next confront the Union army aft: crosn the Monntains in ar v around Fredericksburg, Va., under t I the command of Burnsides, where a t sanguinary battle was fought on the' s 13th of December, 1862. The Union army was defeated with a loss of about 11,000 men. Our company was e in this engagement and after the ene e my fell back across the river held the r position around Fredericksburg, un o til sent for picket duty to Moss Neck e on the Rapahannock river. for the winter. e About the end of January, 1863, t Gen. Burnside was relieved of his ) command of the Yankee army and s was superceded by Gen. Jno., Hooker, e who moved his army about 20 miles d above Fredericksburg and thought by ;- taking a new route to Richmond to f compel Gen. Lee to fight in the open o field away from the works he had s made in the winter. This foreed Gen. e Lee to move the most of his forces u up the river to meet him, which re d sulted in the great and bloody engage :- ment around Chancellorsville, the hea s viest of which was fought on the 2d Ir and 3d 6f May, '63. In these battles e we inflicted a terrible loss on the Un h ion army and Hooker was forced to n re-cross the Rappahannock on the 5th ;t of May. The North felt this disas ' ter very much, for Hooker's army was n nearly double that Confederates and n it was the -fairest contest of actuall e powers of th two armies during the r war. The Union loss was over 17,0001 kill, wounded and missing, *hilst ours s was comparatively lighter. It was in these bettles that the famous Stone wall Jackson was mortally wounded, through mistake, in the darkness by one of his own men. No doubt many a of you call to mind the volley that in flicted this fearful loss on our cause. r Gen. Lee now recruited his army m from every source possible to 70,000, with the object ofLcarrying th. wq into the enemy's country. We accord ingly moved up the river and made demonstration in that direction. Our color-bearer gave me first otice of it the disaster that was soon to follow e on this march when the promise of L the beauty and booty as our wateh word was echoed along the line. The Union army fell back to Washington dwhere *Gen. Meade suceceeded to its command. We crossed the Potomac a above Harper's Ferry and, pushed e north u.p the Cumnberland valley, which gave us the grandest battle of ~the war, that of Gettysburg, the first ~ thbree days of July. Then we witness .? ed the saereligious and unsuccessful 1- barges of our men to take the heights the following two days. You sremember with horror the havoc and [ slaughter made on our company by Ld one shell on their unsuccessful eharge ito take the .heighrt, the terr'fie ean E nonading the hardships ineurred on tthe trip. This was the frrst positive s downward step in the,fate of the Con kfederacy. Our army was repulsed and ~- lost about 30,000 men killed ,wound hed and missing. The retreat was , dreadful. The attack on Gen. Heath's rt Brigade and fight around the barn, l the perilious esca*pes from cavalry at 2 tacks and ambuseades and the re 1crossing of the Potomac at Fal-lingj ir Water are incidents you are familiar with, and were, perhaps, the direct and most exhausting of the war. it Our army retreated up the valley1 e rossing the mountain and took posi-' .tion on the south side of the Rapidan. dThe northern army followed up and~ nconfronted us on the north side. In1 o this situation the two armies remain Sed for the remainder of '63 without ts anything of importar.ee to mar the ie dull routine of camp) life. r. In the beginning of the casmpaign e- of 1N6. Gen. U. S. Grant was made. rcomnmander-in-chief of all the U,nion 11 armies. He left Sherman in charge e of the western army and transferred a. his headquart.ers to the army of the a- Potomae, and supereeded Gen. Meade t in command. Until the month of May ie Lee's army was still guarding the t line of the Rapidan. Grant's army i-1 erossed the Rapidan on :May 4th, andi >fmet the Confederates in the stubborn e- jbloody battle of the Wilderness. The .combat lasted the greater part of .three days, without decided vietory re: on either side. Grant then tried his er sank movement ,on Richmond, but d Lee moved on and planted his army around Spottslyvania C. R., behind marth works. You know the bloody sequel in thg Eight of all day and all night at Bloody Bend. . Again Lee took his stand art North Anna, and we, bring ng up the rear, did not get into thI angagement. A repetition of this" sme movement brought up both ar nies on the line of the Chickahominy. Eere Grant's army met a decided re pulse in the second battle of Cold Elarbor. This over-land ampaign lasted from the 1st of May, until the middle of June, 1864, and ended with Lee's army in the stroug entreneh ments around Richmond. This move ment on the CGonfederate Capital cost the Union army a great sacrifice of men-over 60,000-but with all our bardships, we did not lose one third of that number. Having failed so far, the Yankee general threw his forees against Petersburg to capture it before too strongly fortified. We reached the city on the 18th of June, 1864, during the assault which was repulped, and both armies sat down for i long protracted siege, which lasted from June, 1864, to April, 1865. During this time, several severe and important battles and skirmishes book place. The singular and. tre mendous "mine," eharged with an immense quantity of powder, was fired and exploded on the 30th day.. f July, 1864, which earried the earth-... works iftto the air and killed and bu ried,and mangled many men. A storm ing column then advanced to press through to Peterburg, but. were driv en back With great slaughter. There'; were several skirmishes and fghts that of Jones' farm, where we cap tured caisson and horse-during the period to stop foraging parties and eaalry raids, though not attended with so muoh blood shed, were hor rid seenesof privatio , ig eold and hard jnarehig,- but, wa at tended by o4ly one gratifying sees and that was they eapture of3,501 of5 the enemy's beeves driven inta our Daes and rationed out to our- men The military sitintion at the open-' ing of the eampaign of 1865 was gloomy indeed-simply deIperate. The men were worn out and diminish ed with the fatigues and causalities of a protracted seige - and no source for recrui.ting the army, which the' enemy were doing daily in immense numbers. The only formidable army of the south now consisted of Lee's veterans still lying behind the earth en parapets around Petersburg and Rihmond. This army was reduced to less than 40,000, whilst the eniemy had been recruited to over an 100,000 '-i strong, fresh troops from hearly every qarter of the globe. On the 25th of March, Gen. Iee captured Fort Steadman, -but onur+ men were soon driven from out of it. On April 1st, 1865, General Sheridan and Warren assailed our right flank. and defeated our forces at Five Forks. An attack was then made along the whole line in front of.Pet-. ersburg on the 2nd of April. The line was carried at several points and ' during the night Gen. Lee abandoned Petersburg and Richmond. I will al- ~~ was remember the flurry along the br ast-wvorks and will feel it more keely, perhaps, for being placed on t vidette between two lines of sharp- - You remember the retreat and route of the morning of the 3d of April, '65, and the farht at the South Side Railroad the same evening,; al so the stampede from there and the hih waters on the Appomattox, and her dlan1ers and privations on that memora4 retreat. Gen. Lee with a fretured and demoralied army re treated westward, and a hot pursu,it was begi1m be (rant 's victorious for-. es. Several partial engagements were fought during this long race. At last, the Confederate army ws completely surrounded4 at Appomat tox C. H., where Gen. Lee surrezider ed on the 9t-h of April, .1865. We 'trked o*ur arms on the line of ".gg,cc.s'' en the 12th day of April. and1 started homeward that same evening with hopeful, .but sad hearts: for "our cause'' was lost (Continued on Page 2.)